Etti continues to pull out his stitches through his incessant fidgeting, scratching and rolling on the muddy ground. It is almost 2 weeks since we operated on him, and his wound is still inflamed and full of liquid, with a gaping hole where his stitches once were.

Today, we sedated him, gave him pain relief and sewed him up again. After adding 6 stitches, we wrapped the dressing so that the tape went around his torso, and we even covered his back left paw with cotton and vet wrap so that his nails weren’t exposed to pull the stitches out when he scratched.

In the evening we had dinner with Dr May - a dentist at the local hospital and supporter of the sanctuary’s work - and some of her colleagues. We ate in a rather large resort along the side of the lake, facing the Mon side. Arriving at 8pm, we could see a massive fire on the other side of the lake. Fires are not uncommon in Thailand, frequently started purposefully as a means to clean up the rubbish. This fire, however, was incredibly large and looked out of control. Other diners were clearly just a puzzled and intrigued as we were. As our party arrived, so did the rumours.

There had been a huge fire at the Temple on the Mon side of Sangklaburi. Believed to have been started by electric pylons, the entire market that occupied the Temple grounds had been burned to the ground.

By about 10pm the fire had been extinguished, the damage won’t be determined until tomorrow. Currently, there is also a festival taking place near the temple grounds, where hundreds of stalls have been set up selling the usual clothing, gimmicks and food. Hundreds are attending this festival, which is spread over the next few days, so it is unsure how the fire has affected the festivities…